September 2, 2019

On September 2, 2019, the speaker recalls a childhood trip from the ranch to Cody, rerouted through Yellowstone when the main road was closed, forcing a long detour up through Cooke City and around the park. She vividly remembers a doe on a hillside above the road, yawning so contagiously that everyone in the vehicle kept yawning for the rest of the drive. She reflects on the direction of travel, trying to decide if this was the outbound or return trip, and notes that a family member named Pokey is absent from her memory of the scene, leaving her unsure whether Pokey had been born yet. Shifting to the present in the Powell Nursing Home, she describes struggling with severe restless legs the previous day, especially during lunch and again in the evening while watching the movie “Pride and Prejudice” with Lola, forcing her to wiggle constantly even though she wanted to sit still and enjoy the film. She explains that she took two pills for restless legs without confirming the dosage, after previously experimenting with two and then one-and-a-half pills, and concludes that the extra medication left her extremely sleepy the following day. Later, after a nap, she wandered out not knowing what to do, and a staff member brought her what looked like crayons and a coloring book, prompting her to wrestle with feeling “too good” for coloring, then gently chiding herself, deciding she might try it or pass the supplies to Sherry or Marina if the pages were not to her taste.